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| Issue 07 | February 2006 | ||||
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It was an unassuming journey from Delhi to Kathmandu on October 23, 2005. Everything was planned in haste. It was only a couple of days back, Ms Manali Shah of Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi asked me to represent Friends of Freedom in Liberal Youth South Asia (LYSA) workshop to be held between October 23 at 29 at Hotel Himalaya Horizon, Dhulikhel, Nepal. I was surprised by the invitation and decided to attend the workshop. I was accompanied by Mr Rishi Kochaar of Chandigarh who also represented Friends of Freedom Group. A pleasant afternoon welcomed us there at Kathmandu. We were taken to LYSA office by their representative. The office seemed to be very calm and small but showed the amount of work and dedication the office bearers have towards the activities. After spending there for an hour we started our trip to Dhulikhel. In the trucker, we were joined by our Pakistani friends. There had arrived one day earlier. Dhulikhel is about 40 Kilmetres from Kathmandu. It was getting cooler outside. The ride offered the royal look of this valley town and also a glimpse of Nepali architecture. The royal look was more profound looking at the venue of the conference. An enchanting breeze welcomed us to the venue. We were the first batch to reach the Hotel. Immediately we were taken to our respective rooms and settled down. We were asked to report at seven in the evening. We gathered in the conference hall at the time given. It was learnt that our Bangaladeshi friends’ s flights were delayed. But already we had made friendship with our Sri Lankan counterparts. So we engaged in knowing each other. We played a game to learn the names of other participants and organisors. It was very interesting. In an hour everyone joined the exercise. It was already late in the evening and getting very hungry. So we assembled around the campfire for dinner. We spent a lot of time talking to our new friends from other countries. Two more from India also joined by this time. Nepali participants were very much caring. Post Dinner, we assembled in the conference Hall. The organosrs welcomed all the participants and there was a brief presentation on LYSA. Then each participant was asked to introduce himself/herself. It was a nice time to get know each other and their academic and professional backgrounds. Then time was allotted to make presentations on the Groups or organisations each one is representing. We proudly presented Friends Of Freedom to the participants. For the smooth conduction of the workshop, the whole group of sixteen was divided into the groups of four namely news, logistics, documentation and entertainment. Each group was assigned the tasks. One should represent the group everyday to update others on the latest happenings in their front. We ended the meeting liking for a good sleep. In the program schedule itself, details of all the events and sessions were clearly mentioned. The timings for breakfast, lunch and dinner were vividly marked. Each day started with a report presentation from each group. On the first day the first session was handled by Mr Rajendra Mulmi. He introduced different types programs like training, workshops, seminars, conferences, talk programs and meetings and tried to differentiate between each other. For some time, it seemed to be very usual presentation but then when it was discussed thread and bare, it was a challenging task for the participants. It had already been mentioned in the introduction itself that even though the topic of the workshop was ‘Understanding and spreading Basic principles of Liberalism’, more time would be devoted to the techniques and tools be used for spreading this message. In this aspect it was a great beginning. We continued to debate over traits and qualities required for a good facilitator. We discussed theories involved in this arena and different dimensions as well. In the afternoon session, different tools used in the workshop were discussed. Then we were briefed on the importance of Simulation techniques. The difference between process and content was discussed in detail. For the first time we were engaged in a game during the tea break, later it was explained how that kind of simulation is important for workshops. During post dinner session the documentary ‘Greed is God’ was screened. Now onwards, each participant was asked to handle the sessions and was evaluated and judged by the rest at the end of the session. A great learning process started. The third day started with discussion on ‘Facilitation and Presentation skills’. We were taught on how to use different aids effectively and successfully. At the outset, it seemed to be very simple; many things were of revealing type and handful for any person. It ranged from posters to LCD projectors. In the next session, setting objectives and session deign was the core theme. Again, it was heartening to know the niceties involved in these. Within one and half day, each one was provided with a lot of inputs on the different methods and its rigidities of planning process of a program. In the afternoon break up, both ‘Introduction to liberalism’ and ‘Individual freedom and responsibility’. It was for the first time we were discussing the content of the topic part as such. It was interesting especially as all the talks ended up in the respective country domains. During the post dinner session, the documentary on ‘Licence Permit Raid Raaj’ was screened. All the sessions ended up in evaluating the facilitators. Fourth morning started with a presentation on rule of law by Mr Sunil Witharanage. Being a lawyer by profession in Colombo, he touched more on Indian constitution and democratic rule. Ms Arpita introduced the idea of limited government. There was a heated discussion on comparing the situations prevailing in Nepal and Bangladesh. The debate continued in the post lunch session also as in the case of ‘Lean management’. Simulations were used to prove how effective the lean government would be. Tow rounds of exercises were conducted as a part of this. Later, the difference between ‘Market led Economy and Command Economy’ was discussed. It touched upon various economic models prevailing across the world at present. The much eventful day concluded with the inputs on State, Civil Society and Market by Mr Robin. With that, the input session on various topics relevant to Liberalism came to an end. It has given much needed basic ideas on Liberalism. The participants were divided into four groups and assigned each of the four concepts on Liberalism. Each group was asked to present their ideas on the topic on the next day. The time allotted was fourty five minutes. Everyone was busy with the preparation and discussion on the topics. It was great fun also. The deliberations continued even after mid night. At the same time, an opinion poll was conducted to solicit the ideas of the participants on various issues involving state, civil society and market. Fifth day sessions started with the news update on a Bandh call in the valley by political parties on the next day. First session discussed on pros and cons of the opinion poll conducted in the previous night. In almost all the matters, it was found to be a consensual answer. ‘Market’ dominated the discussions. Dr Christopher Lingle talked on impact of Economic policies in South Asia in the post tea break session. It was a mind boggling one. Knowledge was redrawn and rephrased. In the afternoon session, as decided earlier, each group came up with the presentations. New ideas, thought provoking presentations and fun ….it was a mixture of all. At the same time, for all of us it was a great learning experience of presentation skills and facilitation techniques. At the end of each presentation, rest of the participants along with other observers came out with suggestions and remedies through a systematic judgement and evaluation. It was a long day in fact. At the end of the day everyone was quite relaxed. In between we used to engage in the games to keep our spirit level at high. On the final day, all the sessions were meant for discussing our future course of action. It was started by the evaluation on various training techniques used in the workshop. This time there were more inputs and suggestions from the participants’ side. Then it was carried over to the feedback and reflection side of the whole workshop. In the post lunch session, there were seminar evaluation, presentation on FNSt and Politopia Quiz Analysis. The closing ceremony was a grand finale to the workshop. Everyone appreciated the effort and commitment taken by the organisers to conduct such a workshop. Wew returned to Kathmandu late in the evening. Overall, it was a great time for all the participants and above all we made friendship with our counterparts from the neighbouring countries. On October 29, 2005, we attended the seminar on ‘Youth Conflict in South Asia’. Each country presented their local and regional perspective on this issue. It was a proud moment for all of us to speak on behalf of a nationality sometimes. But it also revealed the truth that at the end of the day each one is identified by their nationalities. Under two sessions namely ‘Mapping conflict in South Asia’ and ‘the way ahead: role of the youth’, many burning issues were discussed from a youngster’s angle. India was given representation in both the sessions. There were many questions on India – Pak relations especially on Kashmir stalemate. We decided to continue to hold this kind of talks and open the boarders to enhance people to people contact. It was with a lot of cherishing memories we returned to the India on October 31, 2005. We decided to continue our active engagements and cooperation in the future as well to uphold the principles of Liberalism and thus a be a part of vibrant and Liberal South Asia.
Rishi's
experiences As Dhanuraj (my colleague during the Workshop from Cochin), in his report presented to CCS has already discussed on the whole event contents, design etc. so I will not go for that part again. Inspite, I would like to discuss on actually what were the objectives of the workshop and how they were met. The workshop was organized by Liberal Youth South Asia (LYSA) focuses on empowering member organizations through sharing of ideas, and creating opportunities to strengthen liberal thinking and skill development of their human resources to carry forward the mission of spreading liberal democracy for a peaceful and harmonious South Asia. The workshop focused on strengthening liberal thinking and moderation and facilitation capabilities of the participants. Following were the main objectives of the workshop: - The participants of each country shall have a design for a one-day Liberalism workshop/seminar that they can host once they are back in their respective countries. - The representatives of the member organizations have a common understanding and working knowledge of the basic principles of liberalism. - The participants have some basic skills that they can use to design and conduct basic principles of Liberalism workshops and seminars in their respective countries. - The participants of each country have basic presentation and moderation skills. According to me all the four objectives were fully achieved and all the participants actually got a practical insight into various aspects ranging from designing a session, conducting the session (individually as well as in group), organizing documentary screening and at the most designing one day workshop plan with sessions, simulations etc. The organizers provided all the participants with a CD covering Documentation (whole workshop coverage), Pictures of the workshop, References and notes on Basic Principles of Liberalism, notes and help on facilitation skills, guidebooks on Simulation, Energizers and Games etc. to be used during the sessions. One thing I would like to mention here is that in the workshop they used maximum time the participant’s active involvement. I really liked feedback/reflection method used by them. Actually they gave us the slips; 2 for each session and at the end of the session we were asked to write one thing we liked and the other one which we didn’t like and paste them on the respective charts. This actually helps a lot when workshop is of long duration say 4-5 or more days and if some resource person is having the sessions for a no. of days then feedback immediately after the session will surely help to improvise over the shortcomings in the next sessions. Also, the organizers Robin, Arpita and Rajinder interacted with the participants individually almost every evening and talk over the whole day session plan, working of the workshop, participants views etc. Moreover, there were no heavy sessions after dinner. Just for 2 nights there were documentaries but not for all the days. There was also free time given to participants in the evening and that’s good in the sense that if during the whole day some session if say go beyond the set time limit then that free time can be utilized with the mutual understanding of the participants and the resource person. We also got help on the outreach to public and media. Fundraising which is the main part of any activity, we also discussed on that during the workshop. The skills gained during the workshop will really help me and of course Dhanuraj for the smooth and efficient working of the respective Friends of Freedom Groups. Implications for FOF Members: I strongly believe that the members of my group will surely gain as after coming back from Workshop all the members of the group met and there I presented my views on what I learned and what was the whole event. We discussed on various technical terms like simulation, energizers and their roles, role-plays, skills and techniques to be used a facilitator and how to design a session etc. I think this will also help in sustaining the FOF group as it develops the facilitators, resource person skills in itself. I also request the Centre for Civil Society to act positively on joining Friends of Freedom network to Liberal Youth South Asia (LYSA) as it will increase the outreach, resource level etc. For more information you can check www.lysasia.org; www.ylda.org
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